But the Mountain West Conference tournament championship is shockingly out of their reach, after the Utes played their worst game of the season at the worst possible time, losing an unthinkable 60-52 quarterfinal decision Wednesday to ninth-seeded Colorado State -- the team that had lost 20 consecutive games before beating UNLV in the tournament play-in game.

The loss snapped No. 12 Utah's school-record 22-game winning streak, and doomed the Utes to three days of waiting to see how badly it will hurt their seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

The big problem was shooting; the 27-4 Utes made just 17 of 57 shots (29.3 percent), and their three top players -- Leilani Mitchell, Morgan Warburton and Kaylee Whipple -- combined to go 13-for-48 from the field. At one point, the Utes had made just 4 of 19 shots in the second half.

Mitchell led the Utes with 19 points and seven assists before fouling out. Whipple added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Rams won their second straight game after going 2-27 through the regular season. Emily Neal scored 17, and hit the three-pointer that broke the Rams out of a 39-39 tie midway through the second half. The Rams never trailed after that, and made 8 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the game.